Melanoma - oral
Summary
Location: Oral
Behaviour: Metastasizes quickly
Diagnostics: Fine needle aspiration/lymph node biopsy, X-ray (bone and chest), ultrasound abdomen, CT/MRI scan
Treatment: Surgery and additional radiotherapy (primary tumour), chemotherapy (metastases)
Prognosis: Strongly depends on tumour stage and used treatment method
Pictures
Here you can find pictures of dogs with this tumour type. These images may be unsuited for sensitive viewers.
Show pictures
The bulge of the lip in the lower right corner of the picture is caused by a melanoma.
Upon opening the mouth a dark spherical mass was found at the level of the gingiva.
The mass does not always have to be dark to be a melanoma. In the above dog, the mass at the height of the upper lip is flesh-coloured, but the sampling confirmed that it was a tumour of the pigment cells.
References
  1. Bergman PJ, Kent MS. melanomaOral. Withrow and MacEwen's Small Animal Clinical Oncology, Chapter 19 (p 321-330).
  2. https://vsso.org/oral-melanoma
  3. Pazzi P, Steenkamp G, Rixon AJ. Treatment of Canine Oral Melanomas: A Critical Review of the Literature. Vet Sci. 2022 May; 9(5): 196.
Clinical trials
Improving the outcome of dogs with head and neck tumors using fluorescence-guided surgery
Comparative evaluation of a targeted and non targeted NIR dye to improve resection accuracy in oral neoplasia

Clinic for Small Animal Surgery, Soft Tissue and Oncologic Surgery, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland

mnolff@vetclinics.uzh.ch
+41 44 6358444
https://www.tierspital.uzh.ch/kleintierklinik/kleintierchirurgie/studien-fluoreszenzfarbstoffe-tumorpatienten/